The Duck Thread

[EmilyP]

You can sex them by their quack or once of age the drake curl in the boys. The quack comes sooner though.

I went back and forth on my Pekin's gender about 3-4 times based on his quack. Once he got his drake curl I was pretty confident, however the frequency in which I catch him sitting on the nests still makes me wonder sometimes

 

[Miss Lydia]

I went back and forth on my Pekin's gender about 3-4 times based on his quack. Once he got his drake curl I was pretty confident, however the frequency in which I catch him sitting on the nests still makes me wonder sometimes

LOL

 

[Gabby2016]

I have a question about rotating my duck's pool...we seen to be getting a lot of flies on the ground around the pool. I usually empty and refill once a day. Are the flies because I'm not moving the pool to different locations enough or that maybe I'm refilling to often, and pouring the mucky water out around the pool area. Has anyone else had this issue. Thanks for your advice.

 

[jenniferlamar70]

From about 16 weeks and onwards (when the ducks grow their adult plumage) drakes will have a curly tail feather, seen in photo below:

X2

I went back and forth on my Pekin's gender about 3-4 times based on his quack.  Once he got his drake curl I was pretty confident, however the frequency in which I catch him sitting on the nests still makes me wonder sometimes  

Aww how sweet! My drakes also sit on the nest. It's hilarious lol

I have a question about rotating my duck's pool...we seen to be getting a lot of flies on the ground around the pool.  I usually empty and refill once a day.  Are the flies because I'm not moving the pool to different locations enough or that maybe I'm refilling to often, and pouring the mucky water out around the pool area.  Has anyone else had this issue.  Thanks for your advice.

I think flies are inevitable with livestock. We use fly traps...

 

[jenniferlamar70]

Thought I'd share a pic of my blue swedish drake perry and my rouen drake clover. They are sweet as pie lol the bottom pic is our 2 new muscovy hens. They are so cute !

 

[DancingWthDucks]

Thought I'd share a pic of my blue swedish drake perry and my rouen drake clover. They are sweet as pie lol the bottom pic is our 2 new muscovy hens. They are so cute !

Cute!

 

[AmandaMBG]

@AmandaMBG
  What is your zoning?  Who is making you get rid of some of your ducks?  If you're zoned agricultural you are protected from anyone complaining about chickens, ducks, or any livestock/pets you keep.  Find out what your legal rights are for your area, if you are in the right, then your neighbor can be charged for harassment. 

We are zoned residential but have a little over 1/3 of an acre. There are no specifics on keeping ducks as pets. Just the raising of them as livestock. So they have the right to file an official complaint but did not do that. They just called in anonymously to let the authorities "know" we have them. Of course the authorities took that as a complaint. The same woman was telling me a week earlier that they had ducks when their kids were growing up. I highly doubt they mind the sound. She has been complaining about our house to neighbors since we built it and we found out she "turned us in" because "rules are rules". The entire situation is ridiculous. The woman walked into our house uninvited and walked around the entire main floor asking for money to raise their block wall because she thought our wall being one block higher looks unappealing to them.

 

[AmandaMBG]

Is it possible I got the sex of one of my ducks wrong? I thought they were girls because they are at six months all honk quacking (nothing raspy about it) and none are sporting a drake curl. However today when one was mounting the others I noticed it was using its tail like a male would and when I picked it up it looked like possibly cemen left on its feathers near its vent. Is it possible that a six month old drake could have no curl and no hint of male characteristics? It's loud, friendly, no green or white at the neck, not aggressive at all, orange bill. Here is a photo of all of them. Any of them look like they could possible be male? Was I just seeing some poop residue?

 

[EmilyP]

I use a stock tank. I got it when the were ducklings and used it for a brooder, and now it's their pool. They get into it by a stone walkway.

I love this idea! we have a kiddie pool right now and it is very fragile, i'm concerned when it gets cold it won't survive. I found a 110gal Tuff Stuff stock tank at TSC. i'm hoping this will be big enough for our 4 birds. i checked the area on this vs the pool we have as i was worried it would be smaller but the numbers look much bigger! you say you only drain it every few weeks, how much time are they confined to the area with the pool? my 4 get their pool filthy in a day! because it is deeper (7.5" vs 20") does the dirt, poop and sediment sink to the bottom and not be quite so dirty??

 

[PINOAK RIDGE]

Is it possible I got the sex of one of my ducks wrong? I thought they were girls because they are at six months all honk quacking (nothing raspy about it) and none are sporting a drake curl. However today when one was mounting the others I noticed it was using its tail like a male would and when I picked it up it looked like possibly cemen left on its feathers near its vent. Is it possible that a six month old drake could have no curl and no hint of male characteristics? It's loud, friendly, no green or white at the neck, not aggressive at all, orange bill. Here is a photo of all of them. Any of them look like they could possible be male? Was I just seeing some poop residue?

If all three ducks are loud quackers, then they are all females. Females will mount females, it's a dominance thing. You may have been seeing residue.

Hope this helps. Enjoy your ducks